The tie makes the outfit

Exterior color consulting is different than interior color consulting. For one thing, only the people who are invited into your home can see your color choices whereas everyone who passes by can see your exterior colors. Exterior colors can be exposed to intense natural light or alternately, deep shade and shadows, both of which alter how the colors look. Unlike painting one interior room of a house a certain color you are painting an entire structure, possibly two or even three stories high. Then, there is the trim to consider and one or more accent colors to coordinate. You want to get it right because when you consider the cost of repainting your exterior, you don’t want to have to do it again for a long time! Here’s a way of looking at it that has been helpful to my clients. Think of a really nicely tailored man’s suit; the body color of your house is the suit, the trim color is the crisply ironed dress shirt and the door (you guessed it) is the perfectly chosen tie. You have to admit, when you see a man in a well put together ensemble…it’s the tie that makes the outfit.

I just consulted on a beautiful traditional cape cod with classic cedar shake siding and it was time for the trim, shutters and doors to be repainted. It had fairly bright white trim, hunter green shutters and a red front door. The red door just wasn’t the right shade and it was looking purplish pink in certain lights. We kept the existing green for the shutters, which they loved, but replaced the white trim with a warm light shade of gray, which surprisingly looks like white, but softens the color palette and ties all the colors together nicely. I selected a rich red for the front door that has subtle brick tones and is the perfect tie for the outfit! See what you think.